The term that is conspicuously absent from that article is "tax", most probably they will have the ship registered to Panama or some similar and will not pay any tax when doing business with the Valley. People suggesting Singapore or Canada miss this point.
But apart from that, just think for 10 minutes, and you'll see how mind-bogglingly bad this idea is. Living in confined spaces with N other coders (that you didn't choose) most of the day is bad enough in a company space where you can actually go home or go out every now and then. Doing so in a ship is insane.
I had heard some horror stories about how Microsoft treated its temp coders from India. Similar stories for Asian nannies in Arab countries are dime a dozen on the news. Basically, if you accept work in an environment where you have unclear legal rights, exploitation is generally the next step. So, maybe if your code breaks the build, you'll have to walk the plank in this place.
But apart from that, just think for 10 minutes, and you'll see how mind-bogglingly bad this idea is. Living in confined spaces with N other coders (that you didn't choose) most of the day is bad enough in a company space where you can actually go home or go out every now and then. Doing so in a ship is insane.
I had heard some horror stories about how Microsoft treated its temp coders from India. Similar stories for Asian nannies in Arab countries are dime a dozen on the news. Basically, if you accept work in an environment where you have unclear legal rights, exploitation is generally the next step. So, maybe if your code breaks the build, you'll have to walk the plank in this place.